Hand Tools

Warren in Lancaster, PAIt has been over forty years since I used a cap iron that did not follow the curve of the iron and I long ago forgot what I was thinking at the time. Here is what I would say today:

(1) It is a lot easier to judge distance if there is a uniform strip between the iron and cap iron. (2) There is less danger of sliding the cap iron over the edge. (3) If the iron is slightly crooked there is still the same presentation of iron and cap iron. Altogether a lot less clumsy.

Proving why the cap iron is such an advantage (especially if we go beyond just smoothing) has not been very difficult to explain or prove.

You can't imagine how much effort it was to bring people around on this issue. It took four years to get the first convert (Bob Strawn) and another two years before he had the guts to admit it publicly. In the meantime many people, some of whom are still held in high regard, suggested I was lying and called me names. Some moderators thought I deserved to be called names.

The Kato material was discussed on this forum in December 2007. At that time I wrote: My feeling is that anyone who does not see the value of the double iron system probably does not understand how to use it. Do I need to remind you what others said at the time?